By Beth Wynkoop, Prevention and Education Policy Advocate
In the Summer 2020 edition of Frontline, we highlighted the increased risk of online exploitation that youth face due to social distancing. Children and teens are spending time at home and are heading online more frequently for school, games, and socialization. However, there is evidence that online predators are using stay-at-home orders and ongoing social distancing as an opportunity to exploit children, convincing them to produce sexually explicit content (Alfonso, 2020). The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which runs the national Cyber Tipline, experienced a 93.33% increase in online enticement reports between January and June 2020 compared to the same time period in 2019 (NCMEC, 2020).
To address this alarming trend, MCASA and For All Seasons (the Behavioral Health and Rape Crisis Center serving the five counties of Maryland’s Mid Shore) have partnered to produce a new social media campaign to raise awareness and share tools. This campaign will feature a series of posts with essential information on online exploitation, and a link to MCASA’s website to learn more about statistics, methods of prevention, and local and national resources, including MCASA’s Sexual Assault Legal Institute.
The concept of online exploitation is frightening, but the purpose of this campaign is to give parents, caregivers, and other adults the tools to protect their children and teens whenever they’re online for education, entertainment, and staying connected with friends and family.
If you are an employee or volunteer of a Maryland Rape Crisis Center and you would like to use these resources, please reach out to us at [email protected]. We can customize the images to include your logo and contact information (in addition to the existing logos on the image) so that you can best serve your community and raise awareness about this emerging safety risk.
Check out a preview of our social media posts below and read more about online exploitation of youth at https://mcasa.org/prevention/online-safety.
Alfonso, F. (2020, May 25). The pandemic is causing an exponential rise in the online exploitation of children, experts say. CNN. Retrieved from: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/25/us/child-abuse-online-coronavirus-pandemic-parents-investigations-trnd/index.html
O’Donnell, B. (2020). COVID-19 and Missing & Exploited Children. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Retrieved from https://www.missingkids.org/blog/2020/covid-19-and-missing-and-exploited-children
